Industrial and agricultural machines are well known in which the mechanical inner workings or the machine are housed in an enclosure se as to prevent the introduction of dirt and debris into the mechanisms and to shield persons from dangerous moving parts for safety reasons. Such enclosures typically include access doors that can be opened to provide access to the inner workings of the machine for maintenance and repair. It is further well known to provide such doors with hinges and means for retaining the door in an open position such as prop rods or gas or mechanical springs. With metal doors it is possible to structurally attach rather substantial hinge and spring assemblies directly to the door due to the inherent structural integrity of the steel door. More recently, however it has become common to replace sheet metal doors with less expensive and lightweight plastic or synthetic doors. Such doors can be molded in a variety of shapes and colors and because of their light weight, reduce the overall weight of the machine thereby increasing fuel efficiency and lowering costs. Because such doors are lighter than sheet metal doors the hinge and spring does not need to be as substantial as would be necessary with a sheet metal door, however, the lightweight plastic doors typically do not have the structural support necessary for attaching the traditional hinge and spring hardware and it is therefore necessary to add additional hardware to provide the necessary structural support.
Accordingly, there is a clear need in the art for a hinge and spring assembly that is capable of supporting a lightweight plastic or synthetic enclosure access door in an open position without the need for additional structural mounting hardware and that takes advantage of existing structures and hardware already being employed on the machine.